Former U.S. Senator and physician from Muskogee, Oklahoma.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1995-2001 and the U.S. Senate 2005-2015. He limited himself to 3 terms in the House of Representatives. He turned in his resignation in 2014 due to health reasons. When he became a Senator, he and former President, Barack Obama were in the same freshman class and they and their wives became good friends.
In both the House and Senate, he tirelessly attacked spending of all kinds from both parties, and probably had more influence than any other member in getting rid of the pork barrel system that gave lawmakers millions of dollars each to spread around their districts. He was referred to as "Dr. No" because he blocked so many bills. His office had an annual "Wastebook" which included the spending items they considered frivolous.
Republican Sen. James Lankford, who won Coburn's seat in 2014 has continued with the 'Wastebook."
Dr. Coburn will be remembered by many, but around Muskogee, Oklahoma, he is remembered as a physician, mentor and Sunday School teacher. He delivered over 4,000 babies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. was born on March 14, 1948 in Casper, Wyoming to O.W. Coburn and Anita Joy Allen Coburn and died March 28, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma of prostate cancer early Saturday morning, March 28, 2020.
Brothers, David and Jim, and sister, Mary Coburn Carriere.
His family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1950.
He and Carolyn Denton were members of the First Baptist Church Muskogee, where they grew up together, were baptized, and later married in December 1968. They were high school sweethearts.
Graduated from Central High School, attended Oklahoma State University, receiving a degree in Accounting and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.
After OSU, the family moved to Virginia to work for the family business, Coburn Optical. When the company was sold, Tom attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma. He returned to Muskogee to practice medicine. He considered delivering babies one of the greatest privileges of his life.
Three daughters, Callie Coburn Bonds (Jeff), Katie Coburn Boatright (Jay), and Sarah Coburn Rothermel (Chris) and nine grandchildren.
A full obituary can be found in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Page A13.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician. A member of the Republican Party, he was a United States Representative and later a United States Senator from Oklahoma.
Coburn was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the Republican Revolution. He upheld his campaign pledge to serve no more than three consecutive terms and did not run for re-election in 2000. In 2004, he returned to political life with a successful run for the U.S. Senate. Coburn was re-elected to a second term in 2010 and pledged not to seek a third term in 2016.
In January 2014, Coburn announced he would retire before the expiration of his final term. He submitted a letter of resignation to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, effective at the end of the 113th Congress.
Coburn was a fiscal and social conservative, known for his opposition to deficit spending and pork barrel projects, and for his opposition to abortion. Described as "the godfather of the modern conservative, austerity movement", he supported term limits, gun rights and the death penalty and opposed same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research. Democrats have referred to him as "Dr. No" for his refusal to endorse extensive federal spending or welfare programs.
After leaving Congress, Coburn worked with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research on its efforts to reform the Food and Drug Administration, becoming a senior fellow of the institute in December 2016. Coburn also served as a senior advisor to Citizens for Self-Governance, where he was active in calling for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
Coburn was born in Casper, Wyoming, the son of Anita Joy (née Allen) and Orin Wesley Coburn.[14] Coburn's father was an optician and founder of Coburn Optical Industries, and a named donor to O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University.
Coburn graduated with a B.S. in accounting from Oklahoma State University, where he was also a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
In 1968, he married Carolyn Denton, the 1967 Miss Oklahoma; their three daughters are Callie, Katie and Sarah, a leading operatic soprano.
One of the Top Ten seniors in the School of Business, Coburn served as president of the College of Business Student Council.
From 1970 to 1978, Coburn served as manufacturing manager at the Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Optical Industries in Colonial Heights, Virginia. Under his leadership, the Virginia division of Coburn Optical grew from 13 employees to more than 350 and captured 35 percent of the U.S. market.
After recovering from an occurrence of malignant melanoma, Coburn pursued a medical degree and graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School with honors in 1983. He then opened Maternal & Family Practice in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and served as a deacon in a Southern Baptist Church. During his career in obstetrics, he has treated over 15,000 patients, delivered 4,000 babies and was subject to one malpractice lawsuit, which was dismissed without finding Coburn at fault.
Tom and his wife are members of First Baptist Church of Muskogee.
In 1994, he ran for the House of Representatives in Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district, which was based in Muskogee and included 22 counties in northeastern Oklahoma. He initially expected to face eight-term incumbent Mike Synar. However, Synar was defeated in a runoff for the Democratic nomination by a 71-year-old retired principal, Virgil Cooper. According to Coburn's 2003 book, Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders, Coburn and Cooper got along well, since both were opposed to the more liberal Synar. The general election was cordial, since both men knew that Synar would not return to Washington regardless of the outcome. Coburn won by a 52%–48% margin, becoming the first Republican to represent the district since 1921.
Coburn was one of the most conservative members of the House. He supported "reducing the size of the federal budget," wanted to make abortion illegal and supported the proposed television V-chip legislation.
Despite representing a heavily Democratic district and President Bill Clinton's electoral dominance therein, Coburn was reelected in 1996 and 1998.
In the House, he earned a reputation as a political maverick due to his frequent battles with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most of these stand-offs stemmed from his belief that the Republican caucus was moving toward the political center and away from the more conservative Contract With America policy proposals that had brought the Republicans into power in Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.
Coburn endorsed conservative activist and former diplomat Alan Keyes in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries.
Coburn retired from Congress in 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three terms in the House. His congressional district returned to the Democratic fold, as attorney Brad Carson defeated a Republican endorsed by Coburn. After leaving the House and returning to private medical practice, he wrote Breach of Trust, with ghostwriter John Hart, about his experiences in Congress. The book detailed his perspective on the internal Republican Party debates over the Contract With America and displayed his disdain for career politicians. Some of the figures he criticized (such as Gingrich) were already out of office at the time of the book's publishing, but others (such as former House Speaker Dennis Hastert) remained influential in Congress, which resulted in speculation that some congressional Republicans wanted no part of Coburn's return to politics.
During his tenure in the House, Coburn wrote and passed far-reaching legislation. These include laws to expand seniors' health care options, to protect access to home health care in rural areas and to allow Americans to access cheaper medications from Canada and other nations. He also wrote a law intended to prevent the spread of AIDS to infants. The Wall Street Journal said about the law, "In 10 long years of AIDS politics and funding, this is actually the first legislation to pass in this country that will rescue babies." He also wrote a law to renew and reform federal AIDS care programs. In 2002, President George W. Bush chose Coburn to serve as co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
During his three terms in the House, Coburn also played an influential role in reforming welfare and other federal entitlement programs.
In 2013, Coburn received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards
In spite of their ideological differences, Coburn was a friend of President Barack Obama. They became friends in 2005 when they both arrived in the Senate at the same time. They worked together on political ethics reform legislation, to set up an online federal spending database and to crack down on no-bid contracting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In April 2011, Coburn spoke to Bloomberg TV about Obama, saying, "I love the man. I think he's a neat man. I don't want him to be president, but I still love him. He is our President. He's my President. And I disagree with him adamantly on 95% of the issues, but that doesn't mean I can't have a great relationship. And that's a model people ought to follow."
Before the 2009 BCS game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators, Coburn made a bet over the outcome of the game with Florida Senator Bill Nelson—the loser had to serenade the winner with a song. The Gators defeated the Sooners and Coburn sang Elton John's "Rocket Man" to Nelson, who had once flown into space.
In November 2013, Coburn made public that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 2011, he had prostate cancer surgery while also surviving colon cancer and melanoma. He died from prostate cancer at his home in Tulsa on March 28, 2020, at age 72.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1995-2001 and the U.S. Senate 2005-2015. He limited himself to 3 terms in the House of Representatives. He turned in his resignation in 2014 due to health reasons. When he became a Senator, he and former President, Barack Obama were in the same freshman class and they and their wives became good friends.
In both the House and Senate, he tirelessly attacked spending of all kinds from both parties, and probably had more influence than any other member in getting rid of the pork barrel system that gave lawmakers millions of dollars each to spread around their districts. He was referred to as "Dr. No" because he blocked so many bills. His office had an annual "Wastebook" which included the spending items they considered frivolous.
Republican Sen. James Lankford, who won Coburn's seat in 2014 has continued with the 'Wastebook."
Dr. Coburn will be remembered by many, but around Muskogee, Oklahoma, he is remembered as a physician, mentor and Sunday School teacher. He delivered over 4,000 babies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. was born on March 14, 1948 in Casper, Wyoming to O.W. Coburn and Anita Joy Allen Coburn and died March 28, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma of prostate cancer early Saturday morning, March 28, 2020.
Brothers, David and Jim, and sister, Mary Coburn Carriere.
His family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1950.
He and Carolyn Denton were members of the First Baptist Church Muskogee, where they grew up together, were baptized, and later married in December 1968. They were high school sweethearts.
Graduated from Central High School, attended Oklahoma State University, receiving a degree in Accounting and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.
After OSU, the family moved to Virginia to work for the family business, Coburn Optical. When the company was sold, Tom attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma. He returned to Muskogee to practice medicine. He considered delivering babies one of the greatest privileges of his life.
Three daughters, Callie Coburn Bonds (Jeff), Katie Coburn Boatright (Jay), and Sarah Coburn Rothermel (Chris) and nine grandchildren.
A full obituary can be found in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Page A13.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician. A member of the Republican Party, he was a United States Representative and later a United States Senator from Oklahoma.
Coburn was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the Republican Revolution. He upheld his campaign pledge to serve no more than three consecutive terms and did not run for re-election in 2000. In 2004, he returned to political life with a successful run for the U.S. Senate. Coburn was re-elected to a second term in 2010 and pledged not to seek a third term in 2016.
In January 2014, Coburn announced he would retire before the expiration of his final term. He submitted a letter of resignation to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, effective at the end of the 113th Congress.
Coburn was a fiscal and social conservative, known for his opposition to deficit spending and pork barrel projects, and for his opposition to abortion. Described as "the godfather of the modern conservative, austerity movement", he supported term limits, gun rights and the death penalty and opposed same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research. Democrats have referred to him as "Dr. No" for his refusal to endorse extensive federal spending or welfare programs.
After leaving Congress, Coburn worked with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research on its efforts to reform the Food and Drug Administration, becoming a senior fellow of the institute in December 2016. Coburn also served as a senior advisor to Citizens for Self-Governance, where he was active in calling for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
Coburn was born in Casper, Wyoming, the son of Anita Joy (née Allen) and Orin Wesley Coburn.[14] Coburn's father was an optician and founder of Coburn Optical Industries, and a named donor to O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University.
Coburn graduated with a B.S. in accounting from Oklahoma State University, where he was also a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
In 1968, he married Carolyn Denton, the 1967 Miss Oklahoma; their three daughters are Callie, Katie and Sarah, a leading operatic soprano.
One of the Top Ten seniors in the School of Business, Coburn served as president of the College of Business Student Council.
From 1970 to 1978, Coburn served as manufacturing manager at the Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Optical Industries in Colonial Heights, Virginia. Under his leadership, the Virginia division of Coburn Optical grew from 13 employees to more than 350 and captured 35 percent of the U.S. market.
After recovering from an occurrence of malignant melanoma, Coburn pursued a medical degree and graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School with honors in 1983. He then opened Maternal & Family Practice in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and served as a deacon in a Southern Baptist Church. During his career in obstetrics, he has treated over 15,000 patients, delivered 4,000 babies and was subject to one malpractice lawsuit, which was dismissed without finding Coburn at fault.
Tom and his wife are members of First Baptist Church of Muskogee.
In 1994, he ran for the House of Representatives in Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district, which was based in Muskogee and included 22 counties in northeastern Oklahoma. He initially expected to face eight-term incumbent Mike Synar. However, Synar was defeated in a runoff for the Democratic nomination by a 71-year-old retired principal, Virgil Cooper. According to Coburn's 2003 book, Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders, Coburn and Cooper got along well, since both were opposed to the more liberal Synar. The general election was cordial, since both men knew that Synar would not return to Washington regardless of the outcome. Coburn won by a 52%–48% margin, becoming the first Republican to represent the district since 1921.
Coburn was one of the most conservative members of the House. He supported "reducing the size of the federal budget," wanted to make abortion illegal and supported the proposed television V-chip legislation.
Despite representing a heavily Democratic district and President Bill Clinton's electoral dominance therein, Coburn was reelected in 1996 and 1998.
In the House, he earned a reputation as a political maverick due to his frequent battles with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most of these stand-offs stemmed from his belief that the Republican caucus was moving toward the political center and away from the more conservative Contract With America policy proposals that had brought the Republicans into power in Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.
Coburn endorsed conservative activist and former diplomat Alan Keyes in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries.
Coburn retired from Congress in 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three terms in the House. His congressional district returned to the Democratic fold, as attorney Brad Carson defeated a Republican endorsed by Coburn. After leaving the House and returning to private medical practice, he wrote Breach of Trust, with ghostwriter John Hart, about his experiences in Congress. The book detailed his perspective on the internal Republican Party debates over the Contract With America and displayed his disdain for career politicians. Some of the figures he criticized (such as Gingrich) were already out of office at the time of the book's publishing, but others (such as former House Speaker Dennis Hastert) remained influential in Congress, which resulted in speculation that some congressional Republicans wanted no part of Coburn's return to politics.
During his tenure in the House, Coburn wrote and passed far-reaching legislation. These include laws to expand seniors' health care options, to protect access to home health care in rural areas and to allow Americans to access cheaper medications from Canada and other nations. He also wrote a law intended to prevent the spread of AIDS to infants. The Wall Street Journal said about the law, "In 10 long years of AIDS politics and funding, this is actually the first legislation to pass in this country that will rescue babies." He also wrote a law to renew and reform federal AIDS care programs. In 2002, President George W. Bush chose Coburn to serve as co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
During his three terms in the House, Coburn also played an influential role in reforming welfare and other federal entitlement programs.
In 2013, Coburn received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards
In spite of their ideological differences, Coburn was a friend of President Barack Obama. They became friends in 2005 when they both arrived in the Senate at the same time. They worked together on political ethics reform legislation, to set up an online federal spending database and to crack down on no-bid contracting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In April 2011, Coburn spoke to Bloomberg TV about Obama, saying, "I love the man. I think he's a neat man. I don't want him to be president, but I still love him. He is our President. He's my President. And I disagree with him adamantly on 95% of the issues, but that doesn't mean I can't have a great relationship. And that's a model people ought to follow."
Before the 2009 BCS game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators, Coburn made a bet over the outcome of the game with Florida Senator Bill Nelson—the loser had to serenade the winner with a song. The Gators defeated the Sooners and Coburn sang Elton John's "Rocket Man" to Nelson, who had once flown into space.
In November 2013, Coburn made public that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 2011, he had prostate cancer surgery while also surviving colon cancer and melanoma. He died from prostate cancer at his home in Tulsa on March 28, 2020, at age 72.
Former U.S. Senator and physician from Muskogee, Oklahoma.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1995-2001 and the U.S. Senate 2005-2015. He limited himself to 3 terms in the House of Representatives. He turned in his resignation in 2014 due to health reasons. When he became a Senator, he and former President, Barack Obama were in the same freshman class and they and their wives became good friends.
In both the House and Senate, he tirelessly attacked spending of all kinds from both parties, and probably had more influence than any other member in getting rid of the pork barrel system that gave lawmakers millions of dollars each to spread around their districts. He was referred to as "Dr. No" because he blocked so many bills. His office had an annual "Wastebook" which included the spending items they considered frivolous.
Republican Sen. James Lankford, who won Coburn's seat in 2014 has continued with the 'Wastebook."
Dr. Coburn will be remembered by many, but around Muskogee, Oklahoma, he is remembered as a physician, mentor and Sunday School teacher. He delivered over 4,000 babies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. was born on March 14, 1948 in Casper, Wyoming to O.W. Coburn and Anita Joy Allen Coburn and died March 28, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma of prostate cancer early Saturday morning, March 28, 2020.
Brothers, David and Jim, and sister, Mary Coburn Carriere.
His family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1950.
He and Carolyn Denton were members of the First Baptist Church Muskogee, where they grew up together, were baptized, and later married in December 1968. They were high school sweethearts.
Graduated from Central High School, attended Oklahoma State University, receiving a degree in Accounting and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.
After OSU, the family moved to Virginia to work for the family business, Coburn Optical. When the company was sold, Tom attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma. He returned to Muskogee to practice medicine. He considered delivering babies one of the greatest privileges of his life.
Three daughters, Callie Coburn Bonds (Jeff), Katie Coburn Boatright (Jay), and Sarah Coburn Rothermel (Chris) and nine grandchildren.
A full obituary can be found in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Page A13.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician. A member of the Republican Party, he was a United States Representative and later a United States Senator from Oklahoma.
Coburn was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the Republican Revolution. He upheld his campaign pledge to serve no more than three consecutive terms and did not run for re-election in 2000. In 2004, he returned to political life with a successful run for the U.S. Senate. Coburn was re-elected to a second term in 2010 and pledged not to seek a third term in 2016.
In January 2014, Coburn announced he would retire before the expiration of his final term. He submitted a letter of resignation to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, effective at the end of the 113th Congress.
Coburn was a fiscal and social conservative, known for his opposition to deficit spending and pork barrel projects, and for his opposition to abortion. Described as "the godfather of the modern conservative, austerity movement", he supported term limits, gun rights and the death penalty and opposed same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research. Democrats have referred to him as "Dr. No" for his refusal to endorse extensive federal spending or welfare programs.
After leaving Congress, Coburn worked with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research on its efforts to reform the Food and Drug Administration, becoming a senior fellow of the institute in December 2016. Coburn also served as a senior advisor to Citizens for Self-Governance, where he was active in calling for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
Coburn was born in Casper, Wyoming, the son of Anita Joy (née Allen) and Orin Wesley Coburn.[14] Coburn's father was an optician and founder of Coburn Optical Industries, and a named donor to O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University.
Coburn graduated with a B.S. in accounting from Oklahoma State University, where he was also a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
In 1968, he married Carolyn Denton, the 1967 Miss Oklahoma; their three daughters are Callie, Katie and Sarah, a leading operatic soprano.
One of the Top Ten seniors in the School of Business, Coburn served as president of the College of Business Student Council.
From 1970 to 1978, Coburn served as manufacturing manager at the Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Optical Industries in Colonial Heights, Virginia. Under his leadership, the Virginia division of Coburn Optical grew from 13 employees to more than 350 and captured 35 percent of the U.S. market.
After recovering from an occurrence of malignant melanoma, Coburn pursued a medical degree and graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School with honors in 1983. He then opened Maternal & Family Practice in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and served as a deacon in a Southern Baptist Church. During his career in obstetrics, he has treated over 15,000 patients, delivered 4,000 babies and was subject to one malpractice lawsuit, which was dismissed without finding Coburn at fault.
Tom and his wife are members of First Baptist Church of Muskogee.
In 1994, he ran for the House of Representatives in Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district, which was based in Muskogee and included 22 counties in northeastern Oklahoma. He initially expected to face eight-term incumbent Mike Synar. However, Synar was defeated in a runoff for the Democratic nomination by a 71-year-old retired principal, Virgil Cooper. According to Coburn's 2003 book, Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders, Coburn and Cooper got along well, since both were opposed to the more liberal Synar. The general election was cordial, since both men knew that Synar would not return to Washington regardless of the outcome. Coburn won by a 52%–48% margin, becoming the first Republican to represent the district since 1921.
Coburn was one of the most conservative members of the House. He supported "reducing the size of the federal budget," wanted to make abortion illegal and supported the proposed television V-chip legislation.
Despite representing a heavily Democratic district and President Bill Clinton's electoral dominance therein, Coburn was reelected in 1996 and 1998.
In the House, he earned a reputation as a political maverick due to his frequent battles with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most of these stand-offs stemmed from his belief that the Republican caucus was moving toward the political center and away from the more conservative Contract With America policy proposals that had brought the Republicans into power in Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.
Coburn endorsed conservative activist and former diplomat Alan Keyes in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries.
Coburn retired from Congress in 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three terms in the House. His congressional district returned to the Democratic fold, as attorney Brad Carson defeated a Republican endorsed by Coburn. After leaving the House and returning to private medical practice, he wrote Breach of Trust, with ghostwriter John Hart, about his experiences in Congress. The book detailed his perspective on the internal Republican Party debates over the Contract With America and displayed his disdain for career politicians. Some of the figures he criticized (such as Gingrich) were already out of office at the time of the book's publishing, but others (such as former House Speaker Dennis Hastert) remained influential in Congress, which resulted in speculation that some congressional Republicans wanted no part of Coburn's return to politics.
During his tenure in the House, Coburn wrote and passed far-reaching legislation. These include laws to expand seniors' health care options, to protect access to home health care in rural areas and to allow Americans to access cheaper medications from Canada and other nations. He also wrote a law intended to prevent the spread of AIDS to infants. The Wall Street Journal said about the law, "In 10 long years of AIDS politics and funding, this is actually the first legislation to pass in this country that will rescue babies." He also wrote a law to renew and reform federal AIDS care programs. In 2002, President George W. Bush chose Coburn to serve as co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
During his three terms in the House, Coburn also played an influential role in reforming welfare and other federal entitlement programs.
In 2013, Coburn received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards
In spite of their ideological differences, Coburn was a friend of President Barack Obama. They became friends in 2005 when they both arrived in the Senate at the same time. They worked together on political ethics reform legislation, to set up an online federal spending database and to crack down on no-bid contracting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In April 2011, Coburn spoke to Bloomberg TV about Obama, saying, "I love the man. I think he's a neat man. I don't want him to be president, but I still love him. He is our President. He's my President. And I disagree with him adamantly on 95% of the issues, but that doesn't mean I can't have a great relationship. And that's a model people ought to follow."
Before the 2009 BCS game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators, Coburn made a bet over the outcome of the game with Florida Senator Bill Nelson—the loser had to serenade the winner with a song. The Gators defeated the Sooners and Coburn sang Elton John's "Rocket Man" to Nelson, who had once flown into space.
In November 2013, Coburn made public that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 2011, he had prostate cancer surgery while also surviving colon cancer and melanoma. He died from prostate cancer at his home in Tulsa on March 28, 2020, at age 72.
He served in the U.S. House of Representatives 1995-2001 and the U.S. Senate 2005-2015. He limited himself to 3 terms in the House of Representatives. He turned in his resignation in 2014 due to health reasons. When he became a Senator, he and former President, Barack Obama were in the same freshman class and they and their wives became good friends.
In both the House and Senate, he tirelessly attacked spending of all kinds from both parties, and probably had more influence than any other member in getting rid of the pork barrel system that gave lawmakers millions of dollars each to spread around their districts. He was referred to as "Dr. No" because he blocked so many bills. His office had an annual "Wastebook" which included the spending items they considered frivolous.
Republican Sen. James Lankford, who won Coburn's seat in 2014 has continued with the 'Wastebook."
Dr. Coburn will be remembered by many, but around Muskogee, Oklahoma, he is remembered as a physician, mentor and Sunday School teacher. He delivered over 4,000 babies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. was born on March 14, 1948 in Casper, Wyoming to O.W. Coburn and Anita Joy Allen Coburn and died March 28, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma of prostate cancer early Saturday morning, March 28, 2020.
Brothers, David and Jim, and sister, Mary Coburn Carriere.
His family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1950.
He and Carolyn Denton were members of the First Baptist Church Muskogee, where they grew up together, were baptized, and later married in December 1968. They were high school sweethearts.
Graduated from Central High School, attended Oklahoma State University, receiving a degree in Accounting and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.
After OSU, the family moved to Virginia to work for the family business, Coburn Optical. When the company was sold, Tom attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma. He returned to Muskogee to practice medicine. He considered delivering babies one of the greatest privileges of his life.
Three daughters, Callie Coburn Bonds (Jeff), Katie Coburn Boatright (Jay), and Sarah Coburn Rothermel (Chris) and nine grandchildren.
A full obituary can be found in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Page A13.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician. A member of the Republican Party, he was a United States Representative and later a United States Senator from Oklahoma.
Coburn was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the Republican Revolution. He upheld his campaign pledge to serve no more than three consecutive terms and did not run for re-election in 2000. In 2004, he returned to political life with a successful run for the U.S. Senate. Coburn was re-elected to a second term in 2010 and pledged not to seek a third term in 2016.
In January 2014, Coburn announced he would retire before the expiration of his final term. He submitted a letter of resignation to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, effective at the end of the 113th Congress.
Coburn was a fiscal and social conservative, known for his opposition to deficit spending and pork barrel projects, and for his opposition to abortion. Described as "the godfather of the modern conservative, austerity movement", he supported term limits, gun rights and the death penalty and opposed same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research. Democrats have referred to him as "Dr. No" for his refusal to endorse extensive federal spending or welfare programs.
After leaving Congress, Coburn worked with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research on its efforts to reform the Food and Drug Administration, becoming a senior fellow of the institute in December 2016. Coburn also served as a senior advisor to Citizens for Self-Governance, where he was active in calling for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
Coburn was born in Casper, Wyoming, the son of Anita Joy (née Allen) and Orin Wesley Coburn.[14] Coburn's father was an optician and founder of Coburn Optical Industries, and a named donor to O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University.
Coburn graduated with a B.S. in accounting from Oklahoma State University, where he was also a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.
In 1968, he married Carolyn Denton, the 1967 Miss Oklahoma; their three daughters are Callie, Katie and Sarah, a leading operatic soprano.
One of the Top Ten seniors in the School of Business, Coburn served as president of the College of Business Student Council.
From 1970 to 1978, Coburn served as manufacturing manager at the Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Optical Industries in Colonial Heights, Virginia. Under his leadership, the Virginia division of Coburn Optical grew from 13 employees to more than 350 and captured 35 percent of the U.S. market.
After recovering from an occurrence of malignant melanoma, Coburn pursued a medical degree and graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School with honors in 1983. He then opened Maternal & Family Practice in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and served as a deacon in a Southern Baptist Church. During his career in obstetrics, he has treated over 15,000 patients, delivered 4,000 babies and was subject to one malpractice lawsuit, which was dismissed without finding Coburn at fault.
Tom and his wife are members of First Baptist Church of Muskogee.
In 1994, he ran for the House of Representatives in Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district, which was based in Muskogee and included 22 counties in northeastern Oklahoma. He initially expected to face eight-term incumbent Mike Synar. However, Synar was defeated in a runoff for the Democratic nomination by a 71-year-old retired principal, Virgil Cooper. According to Coburn's 2003 book, Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders, Coburn and Cooper got along well, since both were opposed to the more liberal Synar. The general election was cordial, since both men knew that Synar would not return to Washington regardless of the outcome. Coburn won by a 52%–48% margin, becoming the first Republican to represent the district since 1921.
Coburn was one of the most conservative members of the House. He supported "reducing the size of the federal budget," wanted to make abortion illegal and supported the proposed television V-chip legislation.
Despite representing a heavily Democratic district and President Bill Clinton's electoral dominance therein, Coburn was reelected in 1996 and 1998.
In the House, he earned a reputation as a political maverick due to his frequent battles with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most of these stand-offs stemmed from his belief that the Republican caucus was moving toward the political center and away from the more conservative Contract With America policy proposals that had brought the Republicans into power in Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.
Coburn endorsed conservative activist and former diplomat Alan Keyes in the 2000 Republican presidential primaries.
Coburn retired from Congress in 2001, fulfilling his pledge to serve no more than three terms in the House. His congressional district returned to the Democratic fold, as attorney Brad Carson defeated a Republican endorsed by Coburn. After leaving the House and returning to private medical practice, he wrote Breach of Trust, with ghostwriter John Hart, about his experiences in Congress. The book detailed his perspective on the internal Republican Party debates over the Contract With America and displayed his disdain for career politicians. Some of the figures he criticized (such as Gingrich) were already out of office at the time of the book's publishing, but others (such as former House Speaker Dennis Hastert) remained influential in Congress, which resulted in speculation that some congressional Republicans wanted no part of Coburn's return to politics.
During his tenure in the House, Coburn wrote and passed far-reaching legislation. These include laws to expand seniors' health care options, to protect access to home health care in rural areas and to allow Americans to access cheaper medications from Canada and other nations. He also wrote a law intended to prevent the spread of AIDS to infants. The Wall Street Journal said about the law, "In 10 long years of AIDS politics and funding, this is actually the first legislation to pass in this country that will rescue babies." He also wrote a law to renew and reform federal AIDS care programs. In 2002, President George W. Bush chose Coburn to serve as co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).
During his three terms in the House, Coburn also played an influential role in reforming welfare and other federal entitlement programs.
In 2013, Coburn received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards
In spite of their ideological differences, Coburn was a friend of President Barack Obama. They became friends in 2005 when they both arrived in the Senate at the same time. They worked together on political ethics reform legislation, to set up an online federal spending database and to crack down on no-bid contracting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In April 2011, Coburn spoke to Bloomberg TV about Obama, saying, "I love the man. I think he's a neat man. I don't want him to be president, but I still love him. He is our President. He's my President. And I disagree with him adamantly on 95% of the issues, but that doesn't mean I can't have a great relationship. And that's a model people ought to follow."
Before the 2009 BCS game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators, Coburn made a bet over the outcome of the game with Florida Senator Bill Nelson—the loser had to serenade the winner with a song. The Gators defeated the Sooners and Coburn sang Elton John's "Rocket Man" to Nelson, who had once flown into space.
In November 2013, Coburn made public that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. In 2011, he had prostate cancer surgery while also surviving colon cancer and melanoma. He died from prostate cancer at his home in Tulsa on March 28, 2020, at age 72.
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